


Knocking On Death's Door

by therealassistant



Category: Yu-Gi-Oh! Zexal
Genre: Gen, I suck at tags, aahhhh, but are gonna get, hart is only mentioned dont tell anyone, i suck at everything pls help, i suck at summaries, i suck at writing duels, some gore but like not that much, the ghost rider au no one ever asked for, what is the purpose of that, why is there different names for kite and tori i dont understand, youll know it when you see it
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-06-10
Updated: 2017-06-10
Packaged: 2018-11-09 07:33:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,642
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11099877
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/therealassistant/pseuds/therealassistant
Summary: In hindsight, turning into a flaming skeleton was kind of cool, even if Tori didn't think so.





	Knocking On Death's Door

**Author's Note:**

> I know, I know, this isn't your usual DRV3 fic, but I have always loved Yu-Gi-Oh, ever since I was a kid. You know who else I love? The Ghost Rider. And because someone (Noel, u cool kiddo, thanks) encouraged me to write this after I told them about my au, I decided to write it. And since said friend loves Zexal as much as I do, I'm gonna write the Ghost Rider origin and such for that Yu-Gi-Oh season, even if, for this au, all the main protagonists are Ghost Riders in someway. And don't worry, I'm still working on my other fics.
> 
> Also for Tori, Hart, and Kite I'm using the English Anime names because it's Late and I usually watch the anime and I'm used to the anime names.
> 
> Anyway, I don't own Yu-Gi-Oh in any way, shape, or form (besides the cards I buy), so please don't sue me

"Bronk was right, that was tons of dueling fun!" Yuma glanced over towards his friend, Tori, as he clenched his hand into a fist, an almost overconfident smirk on his face as he spoke. "And did you see how great I played? I was so on!"

The green haired girl almost gave him a confused look, as if she didn't understand where the other was coming from. Sure, he seemed to have had fun during all those duels, but he did lose every last one of them. That wasn't really a surprise, though. While Yuma did enjoy dueling, he wasn't good at it. At all. She only sighed a bit, looking off to the side as she mumbled out her reply, "Really? Do you always lose all your matches when you're "so on"?"

Quickly, her friend's face turned from a smug to a surprised look, before it quickly turned to an offended one, almost scowling as he yelled. "Not all of them!"

At his friend's disbelieving look, his anger faltered, lowering his fist as he looked back ahead of him, mumbling a reply in return. "... Just some... Or most..."

At his friend's disbelieving look stayed, he had to quickly look away, a sheepish look completely replacing his anger. "... Or, okay, all of them, but so what?"

His friend had only giggled in reply, trying to hide her smile by covering her mouth with her hands, which only caused Yuma's anger to resurface. "Besides, it's not like anyone's keeping track! Then again, I guess you were-!"

Suddenly, Yuma froze up completely, his anger disappearing, staring straight ahead of him for a few seconds. Tori kept walking, not even noticing her friend suddenly freezing up.

To Yuma, though, the strangest feeling just invaded his mind.

He felt like he was being watched.

Yuma glanced behind him for a few seconds, and, not seeing anyone, he looked up.

That was probably a stupid idea. How could anyone watch him from above? No one could fly-

... Wait...

For a few seconds, he could have sworn that he saw something through the dark gray clouds, something that looked like-

"Hey, Yuma, are you okay?"

The boy with the spiky red and black hair nearly jumped at his friend's sudden voice, his head snapping down so his own eyes met Tori's. It took him a few minutes to realize why she looked so concerned, and he almost told her about what he saw. Yet he stopped himself at the last second.

What he just saw could just be from some sort of duel, even if he didn't have his duel gazer on, right? It's not like someone could really... 

He forced a small smile onto his face as he waved Tori off, although it looked more pained than reassuring. "Yep! I'm fine, just dandy! One hundred percent A-Okay!"

His friend gave him a disbelieving look, opening her mouth to argue, yet suddenly stopping as a raindrop fell onto her face. Following that one was even more raindrops, causing Yuma to give almost a horrified look as he covered his head with both arms. "Ah, my hair!" He started to sprint away from Tori as he yelled over his shoulder, almost relieved for the rain, even if it could possibly ruin his hair. "Come on, Tori! Let's get out of the rain!"

It took Tori a few seconds to even react to her friend's sudden fear of the rain, blinking a few times quickly before shaking her head, forcing her legs to move as she yelled after Yuma, being careful not to trip in the rain. "Hey, wait up, Yuma!"

Yuma nearly slipped as he made a sharp turn, before sprinting halfway across the intersection, then turning around, knowing that it was right for him to cross, jogging in place as he waited for his friend to catch up. "Come on, Tori!"

His friend had only made it to the intersection right after he said that, almost glaring at him as she held her arms over her head. "I'm moving as fast as I-!" 

She suddenly stopped as a bright light shined in her face, followed by the honk of a horn. Yuma could barely make a sound as he watched Tori turn to look right at what may soon be her death. He watched as her face turned from disbelief to horror.

He didn't even realize he was moving until he had pushed Tori out of the way.

The very last thing he sees before he blacks out is a flash of bright light, and all he feels is a stinging pain,

###### 

When Yuma opens his eyes again, he's in a barren landscape, standing in front of a huge door covered in chains.

How did he get here? The last thing he remembered was... Nothing.

He didn't remember anything.

Oh god, what was going on-?!

"Whoever opens this door will gain a great new power."

Yuma flinched at the sudden booming voice, looking around quickly before looking back at the door.

Did the door just talk? If there was one thing he did remember, it was that doors usually didn't speak in loud, booming voices, but then again, he was pretty sure that most doors didn't have weird, almost demonic faces on them.

Before Yuma could even ask what this "great power" was, the door spoke again. "But know, that such a reward comes at great risk..." The door's "eyes" suddenly flashed red, covering the landscape in a crimson hue. "Have you the courage to unlock this power?"

Courage? Great power? What sort of door is this?

... Then again, this all seemed familiar to him, as if he had heard this door say the same thing before... But that's impossible, he would have at least remembered a huge, intimidating, talking door, right?

He gulped as he raised a hand to his neck, gripping the necklace he usually wore as he tried to take a step back, before suddenly stopping.

He looked down at the necklace he wore, although, it wasn't really a necklace. Words echoed in his mind, causing the young boy to flinch, suddenly getting a headache, raising a hand to his head as he shut his eyes.

That's right, he's heard this all before in some weird dream. He wasn't wearing a necklace, it was called a "key". The key to what, he didn't know. And there were his friends, like Tori...

Oh god, didn't Tori almost get killed a second ago?! He was sure he pushed her out of the way...

Was he... Dead?

No, that couldn't be. He wouldn't be seeing this if he was dead, right?

... Right..?

"..." He narrowed his eyes at the key in his hand. It was a key, right? And keys were used to open doors...

... Maybe he did need this great power, in case Tori did get hurt by the crash. There's a great risk to said power, but so what? He would do anything at this point to save a friend. "... Alright!" He suddenly ran towards the door as he yelled, removing the key from his neck as he jumped up. "I'm feelin' the flow!" As he puts the key inside the keyhole in the door, there's a flash of blue light, and Yuma blacks out once again.

###### 

As Kite flies down to the ground, he quickly figures out two very, very important things.

One, someone, presumably the person he was looking for, was just hit by a truck when he attempted to save his friend.

Two, said person was dead, which became obvious as the girl that was with him began shouting what must be the boy's name, shaking him by his shoulders in an attempt to "wake him up". Kite almost chuckled at how foolish the girl was, but he knew this was no laughing manner. The poor kid's arms and legs were bent in ways that weren't physically possible, as well as blood flowing out of his mouth and deep gashes all over his body. Kite didn't even think to follow the truck that had hit the poor kid, which had quickly sped off into the stormy night.

No, he was here for something more important.

Once his feet had touched the ground, the metal hang glider he had used turned back into his robot companion, Orbital 7. The robot almost looked horrified at the scene in front of it, covering its lenses with its metal claws as it yelled in horror. "Oh, this is awful, Master Kite! We have to... Master Kite?"

The robot didn't follow its master as Kite walked towards the girl and her dead best friend. Said girl didn't even seem to notice him until he was right behind her, his shadow giving him away. The girl had turned around, still gripping the dead boy's shoulders. Tears were streaming down her face, barely able to form a sentence as she opened her mouth to speak. "... Y-You... Please help! Call an ambulance! We could still save-!"

"Move." The older boy didn't give a chance for the girl to react as he lightly pushed her off to the side, which caused her to drop the body, stumbling back a bit before falling over. 

Kite ignored the confused, then disgusted look the girl gave him as he grabbed the container on the dead boy's belt that contained his deck, opening it and looking through the cards quickly. He tried not to flinch at the small amount of blood that got on his hands, taking a deep breath as he reminded himself that he was doing this for his brother. He needed to save Hart, no matter what. "What... What's wrong with you?! He could still be alive, and you're just going through his deck?! What kind of person are you?!"

Kite completely ignored the other's yells for a few minutes, going through the deck in complete silence, before sighing in both relief and disappointment. This kid didn't have what he needed, and even if he did, it would have been easy to just take it now. He glanced over towards the other with a flat look as he tossed the container holding the cards back onto the younger boy's body, causing a dull clank sound to be heard as the container hit the dead boy's necklace. "I'm the kind of guy that can use his common sense. You know what my common sense is telling me right now?" He pointed towards the dead body as he walked back over towards Orbital, trying his best to avoid any sort of eye contact with it, finding the motionless body... Disturbing, to say the least. "What my common sense is telling me is that your friend right there is dead."

Once he was close enough to Orbital, he quickly shook his head towards the robot, which, almost surprisingly, seemed horrified by his actions. "M-Master Kite, shouldn't we do something about this..?"

Kite glanced behind him towards the body for only a second, before turning back around, only giving what sounded like a tired sigh a few seconds later. "... We'll call the cops, and tell them about the truck that hit him. Now, let's go Orbital!"

The robot, finally seeming relieved by its master's response, quickly nodded its head, turning itself into a different vehicle this time, a motorcycle, which Kite quickly hopped on. He didn't look back as he sped off, shutting his eyes as he took a few seconds to collect himself.

What he couldn't ignore, though, was the bright flash of blue light behind him, followed by a scream. 

Kite had glanced behind him only for a second, before feeling something wrap around his ankle. He didn't even get a chance to look down and see what it was before it pulled him off the motorcycle with ease. He struggled to get whatever it was off his ankle as he was dragged down the road, back towards the bright blue light, although the screams had suddenly stopped.

He froze up once he finally got to the source of the blue light.

The thing wrapped around his ankle, a chain that was on fire, how it didn't burn him, he will never know, uncurled in what seemed to be its own will, the owner of said chain rolling it back up into a loop as they stared down at Kite. That wasn't the most disturbing thing about this person, though.

They had no eyes, no skin, not even a single strand of hair. They were a skeleton, wearing leather of all things, covered completely in a bright blue flame. Kite could only stare up at the skeleton as it pointed down at him with a bony hand, completely unable to move as he stared up at its empty eye sockets. "... Kite Tenjo." Kite almost shivered at the skeleton's voice, it had an eerie calm, as if the spirit didn't seem to care about what Kite could do, knowing that Kite couldn't do anything to stop it. "My name is Ghost Rider... I am here to judge you, and determine whether or not you are worthy of my punishment."

... Punishment? What was this guy talking about? Sure, this guy was a flaming skeleton, so he could probably do something pretty bad to him as a "punishment", but still, Kite doubted that whatever the skeleton had in mind for a punishment could be that bad. Besides, what exactly could he be punished for? Besides trying to help his brother...

He started to pale a bit once he realized he had done something punishment worthy, such as taking someone's soul to grab number cards, but there's no way this guy could know about this, right?

He started to have second thoughts once he finally looked away from the skeleton's eye sockets, finally catching sight of the girl he was talking to earlier. Her eyes were wide while she covered her mouth with both of her hands, staring at the flaming skeleton in something akin to both shock and horror. All too quickly, though, he noticed something else.

The dead boy's body was gone.

He quickly looked around, glancing over his shoulder to check if he was dragged by the body and he just didn't notice, yet it wasn't there either. Once he turned back around, he looked towards the girl, trying to see if he can quietly ask where the body was, yet she only continued to stare at the skeleton.

He turned back towards the skeleton once again, and finally noticed that the skeleton was barely his height, yet it somehow was, most likely, the most intimidating thing Kite had ever met. He glanced over the skeleton for a few seconds, before his eyes widened, once again noticing two very important things.

One, in the "Ghost Rider's" hand, the one not holding a flaming chain, was a red container, stained in blood.

Two, around the "Ghost Rider's" neck was a necklace that bore a striking resemblance to the one the dead boy wore.

... This couldn't be who he thought it was. That boy was dead, and there was no way he could have recovered this fast, even if he could do... This.

Still, he struggled to remember the boy's name, hearing the girl yell it as he flew down towards the ground. It took a few minutes of tense silence, which the "Ghost Rider" didn't seem to mind, before he finally recalled what it was. "... Your name... It's not "Ghost Rider", it's Yuma, correct?"

"..." The "Ghost Rider" only gave a tired sounding sigh in response, running a hand down his face for a few seconds, before finally speaking up, as if he has had this conversation before. "... No, I am not "Yuma", I don't know who that is." At this, the green haired girl flinched, looking as if she was about to protest, before the "Ghost Rider" spoke again. "Who I am is not important, though." The skeleton raised the chain in his hand as he spoke, empty eye sockets once again seeming to pierce into the older boy's soul. "What you should be asking is whether or not I will have mercy on you, Kite."

Kite didn't have the time to react as "Ghost Rider" threw the chain in his hand, allowing it to wrap around Kite's wrist in a vice lock grip, almost causing the boy to scream in pain. The "Ghost Rider" raised his right arm, showing that the chain was wrapped around it as well. "Kite, we are going to duel, whether you like it or not. If I win, you face a punishment, but in the chance that I may lose..." A burst of flame suddenly appeared in his hand, before the flames turned into a card, Number 39: Utopia. "You may have this."

Kite stopped himself from attempting to rip off the chain once he saw the card in the other's hand, remaining silent for a few minutes as he stared at the card. There would be a chance that he would be "punished", whatever that meant, if he lost the duel, or he could win the duel and get another number card for his brother. Hopefully, that would get the skeleton to leave him alone as well.

Dead kid's coming back to life and turning into demonic entities be damned, he was going to win this duel and get that number.

###### 

As Kite ended his turn, he almost laughed at how pathetic his opponent was. For such an overwhelming person, he was an awful duelist. Kite had destroyed monster after monster with his Galaxy Eyes, and with the way things were going, with him having 2000 life points and the "Ghost Rider" having only 100, this was gonna be over on his next turn. He knew every card in his opponent's deck from when he was looking for the number card, so he already knew no spell, trap, or monster effect could bring him back from the brink of defeat. The fool was even willingly sending multiple monsters from his deck and hand to the graveyard, this was almost a cakewalk...

That all changed quickly, though.

"My turn." During the duel, even when he was close to losing said duel, the skeleton seemed to still remain calm. "I draw." It confused Kite that his opponent didn't even bother to look at the card, only seeming to smirk a bit, somehow, as he pointed towards one of the trap cards he had set at the beginning of a match. "I activate my trap card, "Contract with Mephisto"."

What?

That kid didn't have that card when Kite looked through his deck. Was that even an official card?

Kite opened his mouth to protest, but soon stopped once he saw that instead of the card just flipping up, the card on the field burst into a blue flame. Said flame then drifted towards the "Ghost Rider's" duel disk, yet the skeleton didn't seem afraid of the blue flame being near him. Instead, he spoke calmly, explaining what the card was and what it could do, as if they were discussing strategies as friends. "I can only activate this trap if I have 500 life points or less. By sacrificing half of my life points, I can inflict 300 points of damage for each monster in my graveyard..." Kite must have looked slightly horrified once he heard that, since the skeleton gave almost a reassuring smile. Sadly, it sounded looked menacing than reassuring. "Don't worry, Kite. I can only inflict a maximum of 1800 life points worth of damage to you, so you'll still have 200 life points left..."

Nonetheless, Kite could only watch in silent horror as a seven shots of flame burst out of the duel disk. One hitting the "Ghost Rider's" chest, while the other six headed straight for Kite, hitting him in the chest seconds later, causing the young man to scream out in pain. He didn't even hear the green haired girl's protests, who had yelled at who was once her friend once she saw that the pain that both Kite and the "Ghost Rider" received was real, yet was still too afraid to run up to the "Ghost Rider". Kite did catch, though, the skeleton glance behind him to face the dead boy's friend, staring at them in silence for a few minutes for a few minutes, before quietly speaking. "... Am I to assume that you're "Yuma's" friend?"

A tense silence fell over the roadway as both Tori and Kite stared at the skeleton, one in shock and the other in pain. Still, it took awhile for her to actually respond, only mumbling a quiet "yes" as she nodded her head.

The "Ghost Rider" simply nodded in acknowledgement, looking back towards Kite as he grabbed one of the cards in his hands. "You don't have to be afraid. Once this is over, your friend will be alright once again. I also mean you no harm... The only person I wish to harm right now..." As the card the "Ghost Rider" had grabbed burst into flame, the skeleton's demeanor seemed to shift just a bit, turning a bit more aggressive as he now spoke at Kite. "Is Kite Tenjo!" The flames, instead of forming into a card, turned into a twisted, disgusting monster. It looked like a some sort of demon, clad in red, yellow, and blue armor. The thing that confused Kite, instead of having him be terrified, is how much attack the monster had, which was zero, as well as being only level one.

He had a feeling that wouldn't last for long, and that feeling was almost all too quickly proven correct.

"Chaos Necromancer's effect allows me to increase its attack by 300 for each monster in my graveyard! And since I have eleven monsters in my graveyard, my monster's attack becomes 3200! Which is just the right amount to make you lose this duel, Kite!" The skeleton pointed towards his opponent's monster as he yelled out his next command, that serene like calm returning. "Chaos Necromancer, destroy that Galaxy Eyes Photon Dragon."

Kite couldn't help but smirk at the skeleton's stupidity, even if Utopia was destroyed by Galaxy Eyes barely minutes ago, it seemed that the "Ghost Rider" forgot about his monster's effect. "Do you think I'm really just going to sit here and allow you to destroy my life points!?" The blond laughed as he forced himself to stand up straight, feeling the chain on his wrist get tighter and tighter as Chaos Necromancer got closer and closer to Galaxy Eyes. "Wow, you really are a fool! I activate Galaxy Eye's effect-!"

He was cut off as the "Ghost Rider" snapped his fingers, bursting its other set card in its spell and trap zone into flames, only to have it reappear face up on the field seconds later. "I activate my trap card, Divine Punishment!" The "Ghost Rider" placed the last card he had in his hand into the graveyard, almost seeming to smirk, before pointing towards Galaxy Eyes. "Divine Punishment allows me to negate a monster's activation if I discard a card, which also destroys the monster!" As the "Ghost Rider" spoke, a blue flame shot out of its graveyard, before piercing through the light blue dragon, enveloping the dragon in bright blue flames before it exploded into shards.

Kite was too shocked to move as Chaos Necromancer danced through the sparkles that was once a powerful monster, he didn't even react as the monster raised a gauntlet covered arm, before swiping down, actually cutting through the jacket Kite wore and drawing some blood as the young man's life points went down to zero.

As the holograms seemed to vanish, though, the chain around his wrist only seemed to get tighter and tighter, before the flames on the chain completely covered him in seconds, giving a pained scream in response. Eventually, he blacked out from the pain, the last thought on his mind being that he failed his brother, and that he was leaving him to die in this world alone.

###### 

Tori could only watch in horror as who was once Yuma nearly burned that other boy to death, almost giving a terrified scream before she slapped her hands over her mouth, holding it back.

Whatever happened to her friend should be... Impossible, inhuman, even, considering how much of a monster this creature seemed to be. Yet here he was, the Ghost Rider, who was judging whether or not some random stranger deserved some sort of "punishment"?

This was... Insane, Tori almost felt faint, yet she resisted the urge to run away, knowing that whatever this thing was, it was still her friend Yuma. So deep down, this skeleton had to have at least an ounce of mercy, right-?

Tori's thoughts and worry suddenly stopped as the skeleton walks over towards Kite, snapping his fingers to will the fire away, flicking his own wrist just a bit so that the chain on Kite's wrist uncurled itself, seeming to wrap itself back up on its own. Tori could only watch in confusion as the skeleton got down to one knee, looking over Kite for a few seconds before speaking. "... Although you have committed crimes worthy of my punishment, it seems that your cause is noble and just... Although, I recommend taking a different path to your goal, or else I will take back this second chance." The silence that stretched along after those words seemed awkward after awhile, although the skeleton didn't seem to notice it. Still, Tori was almost too afraid to look at Kite now, she didn't want to see how badly the flames had burnt his body...

Yet when she finally gained the courage to just glance at the blond, she tensed up, noticing that there seemed to be no damage done to Kite's body, besides a mark on his wrist where the chain was. "... Yuma, did you..?"

She immediately stopped talking as the "Ghost Rider's" head snapped towards her, almost causing her to flinch. She could barely look at the other, although the fact that one of them lacked eyes wasn't the main reason why she couldn't look at him. Once again, a tense, awkward silence reappeared, yet it seemed to actually effect the "Ghost Rider" this time, who eventually had to look away, running his fingers over the chain in his hand. "... My name... Is not Yuma... Although, I am just now remembering it is not "Ghost Rider" either..."

At this, instead of Tori's confusion leaving her, it only seemed to grow. He only just now remembered his real name? Still, she took a deep breath, before she forced herself to take a few steps towards the flaming skeleton, who didn't seem to notice the other's movements. Once she was only a few steps away from the other, she spoke up once again, glancing down at Kite for a few seconds before facing the skeleton once again. "Then... What's your name..?"

The skeleton didn't seem bothered by how close Tori was to him, just glancing at her for a few moments, before staring down at Kite, scratching its bare skull with one of his pure white nails. "... I... I think my name is "Astral"..." The skeleton remained silent for a few seconds longer, before nodding his head, empty eye sockets seeming to glance over towards Tori as it spoke once again. "Yes, my name is Astral. It's a pleasure to meet you..?"

The green haired girl stared into the empty eye sockets for what seemed like forever, a stunned silence seeming to take over, before she suddenly smiled, glad to finally have a name to associate with this thing. It made the skeleton seem more... Human. Maybe he was a bit like Yuma, he was technically her friend, after all. "It's nice to meet you, Astral... My name is Tori."

**Author's Note:**

> While "Chaos Necromancer" and "Divine Wrath" are both real cards, "Contract With Mephisto" is not. While these cards are usually not in Yuma's deck in either the manga or anime last time I checked (which I think was about a hour ago), I wanted to give an entirely different deck to the "Ghost Rider", whether the cards are real or not. 
> 
> For those wondering, "Contract With Mephisto" is a trap card that, stated before, only activates once the user has 500 LP or less. The user halves their life points, and inflicts 300 damage for each monster in their graveyard. Yet they could only inflict about six monsters worth of damage, that being 1800 LP, against their opponent. I decided to use this because in the marvel universe, Mephisto is one of the people that creates the ghost rider on several occasions, and I also wanted to make a slight deck theme towards the "Ghost Rider" and it's story, as well as the "Ghost Rider" basically being a demonic entity. 
> 
> Please let me know if this card idea is too OP, and I would also appreciate tips as to how to create better monsters, traps, and spells in the future in case I write another Yu-Gi-Oh fanfic. I also know making up cards is a huge no no, but guys, I'm tired, I'm sleep deprived, I'm really busy, I really don't want to spend hours upon hours creating a "Ghost Rider" themed deck. If you want to do that, go ahead, be my guest. Seriously, I encourage it, it'd be cool to see what kind of decks you guys can think up.
> 
> Anyway, comments and feedback is always welcomed, and I hope you all have a nice morning/afternoon/evening.


End file.
